Now can we at last get to the end game?
Way back on October 23, 2023, I posted a column I called “Getting to the End Game.” In it I observed:
Israel threatens a long ground war, making almost boastful claims about its anticipated success, albeit with many casualties and great violence. American allies, who have fought such urban wars in Iraq and Afghanistan know how miserable, dangerous, and unsuccessful these are, especially against groups driven by religious ideologies, who embrace martyrdom as a tactic and feel they have little to live for but much to die for – not unlike many of those who Israelis would meet in the alleys and rubble of Gaza….
I also reminded my readers, “when Americans finally ended their wars with Islamists, the Taliban were back in control,” and they are still today, after once being on the threshold of defeat by the Americans. I suggested then that if we really wanted to remove Hamas from power we needed not just to pound them militarily – that is expected for people who embrace martyrdom. We needed rather to intelligently plan our end game, what in Israel we call “the day after.” I argued then that meant finding “an answer to the question of how to replace Hamas and these Islamist extremists with an alternative leadership and ideas that will offer Palestinians hope and leaders whom they can trust to deliver and whom Israel will help to succeed.” That would really defeat Hamas. I believed then and still believe now that “here are such people” and that,” we need to be talking with them.”
This was not brilliance on my part; I was simply being logical and clear-headed. Unlike the current Netanyahu government, I was not blinded by a belief that only while the war is ongoing can we hold power and keep our Prime Minister keep out of prison. Remember that this government has several ex-cons as ministers or members of the ruling elite as well as an indicted Prime Minister. If Hamas embraced the war for both martyrdom and staying in power, they had a willing partner in the abominable government who in addition to these once and future criminals as well as those who were irresponsibly trying to neutralize the Israeli courts and democracy. They had found a willing IDF ready to sacrifice themselves – not for war – but to retrieve hostages and prevent further massacres. The defense forces who fought valiantly however became tools of our unscrupulous leaders. It’s time to get them out of harm’s way (and make the draft more equitable).
I wrote in that other post that those in “this failed government who claim there are no such Palestinians,” with whom we could work were dead wrong – and they still are. I suggested names that have since surfaced from others. One was then Princeton professor Salam Fayyad, who was a successful Palestinian Finance Minister from June 2002 to November 2005 and from March 2007 to May 2012 and also Prime Minister between June 2007 and June 2013 who accomplished much for his people that improved their lives.” I urged people to “consider Marwan Barghouti, a prominent and popular Palestinian political figure currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison.” A member of the Fatah Central Committee, and of the Palestinian Legislative Council, he’s been called by many the ‘Palestinian Mandela’, and he is still viewed as one of the strongest leadership candidates. He knows Israelis well and before his arrest had strong relationships with them and since then from prison helped draft the 2006 National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners
Indeed Hamas knows how popular he is and that is why they have been calling for him to be freed, not because they think he will become a member of Hamas but because they know his popularity on the Palestinian street and want him to feel beholden to them for any freedom that he wins or at least share in his high status if only by calling for his release. Our foolish government fails to see how he could quickly serve as an alternate to Hamas and a doddering Abbas, and that is what they truly fear. Or maybe they know and fear his freedom could open the way to a two-state solution and a path to lasting peace.
In the meantime, the government fears a national inquiry on its failures and motives, tries to muddy the waters by claiming falsely that fighting more will free all the hostages in spite of the evidence that negotiations have freed hostages and fighting has killed them, while Hamas is still the only authority in Gaza, as the Taliban in Afghanistan.
As Jonathan Dekel-Chen, of Nir Oz and father of hostage Sagui, said in September of last year, if we do not complete the deal for a permanent end of the war and the return of the hostages “there will be more bodies.” He is correct. We await Sagui’s release, which as a result of a ceasefire appears to be imminent in the nest few days, and all the other hostages who will come when we negotiate and end to this terrible war. We need the release of all of us in Israel from this war and a willingness to put other Palestinians into Gaza who offer a chance for an end game that offers Palestinians hope and us too. Hamas has, with our help, given them ruins and death (and they know it now as they come back to their crushed homes and neighborhoods). We need Palestinian leaders who will work with Israeli leaders and offer hope. That means replacements of leadership in Gaza and in our country. Peace now!